[VFB] Virtual Stonefly, Part 3...

[Rodney]

20.  Use a black waterproof marker, (Sharpie), to dye four pairs of peccary hair to use as legs and antennae.  When the ink is dried, tie the first pair in just beyond the beginning of the body, to serve as a pair of legs.   21.  Wrap a small amount of black dubbing over the leg tie-in point.  Don't get carried away with the dubbing, you just need enough to cover the thread that secures the legs.   22.  Select one of the feathers you previously dyed and coated, then trim it "V" shaped.  This will be the first wing case.   23.  Place the feather on top of the hook to where it will extend slightly over the body.  Secure it to the hook and trim the excess.   24.  Tie in a second set of legs.   25.  Dub over the thread that secures the legs and wing case and then tie in the second "V" trimmed wing case just like you did the first one.   26.  Now add the third pair of legs and the last prepared feather; but this one you trim flat on the end instead of the "V" shape, and tie it in by the top of the feather.   27.  Dub over the thread used to secure the feather and dub between the eyes.  A figure 8 wrap of dubbing should fill in the space between the eyes nicely.   28.  Tie in the last pair of peccary hairs as antennae, securing them behind the eyes.   29.  Pull the feather over the dubbing and secure it behind the eyes to form a carapace common to stonefly nymphs.   30.  Now pull the rest of the feather over and between the eyes and antennae;  then secure it behind the eye of the hook.   31.  Trim the feather, whip finish, set the antennae back in place, then cement the head and thread wraps.   32.  Now, trim the legs to length, bend them to shape with needle nose tweezers and begin adding bulk to the middle of the legs by painting them with black fingernail polish.  This will take several coats to make the legs look right.    My wife says I'm too anal retentive, but having a mother who was an "RN" and a father who was a "Project Design Engineer" for NASA, I have a tendency of dwelling on precision...  It took me close to 3 hours to tie one of these flys, but I enjoyed every minute of it and I would do it over again in a heartbeat.  Thank you, to all that were involved with this swap, I learned a lot, and a special "Thank you" to Steve for hosting it...   Rodney... aka smokeater 734 Fire Captain/Paramedic/EMT-Basic Instructor/CPR Instructor Los Chavez Fire Department, NM